


just another day

by machibouke



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Anniversary, Fluff, M/M, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, year: 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 11:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5926047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machibouke/pseuds/machibouke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'll be your guardian angel."</p>
            </blockquote>





	just another day

_12:02p.m.,_ his phone flashes the time. Midnight, twilight, somewhere indecisively between dusk and dawn but not quite whole enough to be either one. Either way, it’s the beginning of a new day, no matter how Jun looks at it. Or perhaps the end of an old night, if he thought about it positively. If he’d been in Japan, to be awake at this time would have been unforgiving and plain moronic, but for now, he has all the time in the world. It feels that way, at least, like he’s living in an alternate universe. Like he’s gone back in time. The past almost feels that way. Another lifetime. A comfortable place to spend time in just with the power of his mind alone.

 _Fifteen years, Matsujun! Omedetou!!!_ As expected, Aiba texts him seconds later, accompanied with a little partygoer emoji. It takes him away from his theory of the universe. He doesn’t reply, hoping Aiba will assume he just headed to bed early after their heavy celebration party from earlier and won’t be too outraged that he did so on such a largely significant night. He imagines Nino getting the exact same message and reacting in a similarly neurotic and withdrawn fashion. The two of them weren’t particularly lovers of a good party (a party, sure, but excessive and thoughtless drinking not so much), nor were they jumping for joy at yet another year of being Arashi.

Jun blinks, breathes out through his nose and combs his fingers through the water before dragging them through his already slick hair. He repeats the process a few more times, finding it utterly cathartic, until his mind is completely soothed and his surroundings and worries slowly blend into one another and lose meaning. Soon, all he’s aware of is the bathwater holding him – and that is a wonderful feeling.

It’s just another night, another night of _being_. Being stranded and alive in this world, Jun thinks. Even he doesn’t entirely understand why he is always the cynic and why his thoughts are forever borderline end-of-the-world melodramatic. It’s nothing new, really. Long before his career kicked off, a couple of years before joining Johnny’s, he had always been fairly pessimistic at heart: never quite getting along with others, never looking outside of his negative box and staying quiet in favour of expanding his meagre horizons. In some ways, that was basically why he and Nino got to know each other so well when they were younger; it was the one thing they had in common.

The only difference now was that he was well into his thirties with way too much life experience under his belt, so it no longer seemed appropriate nor acceptable to always act this negatively to his and practically everyone else’s lives. He almost feels ungrateful. Correction: he _knows_ he’s being ungrateful. And maybe a little selfish, while he’s making some self-admissions.

Putting everything into perspective, he has it pretty good. He’s an actor-slash-idol with the drama reel and insanely good looks to prove it; he has perfectly intact health and is always glad to be around a group of people who he loves and who loves him back. He lives it up in hotels all around the world for more than two-thirds of the year and makes cash just by making girls scream. Arashi has been on so many damn tours that sometimes it’s beyond him where their current location could be. Right now, for all he knew, they could be in Iceland. But then again, maybe Icelandic suites wouldn’t be this suave and classy.

No, he knows exactly where they are. Back where it all began, almost hellishly, in Hawaii. How the times have changed. For better or for worse, he isn’t entirely sure.

His thoughts change course quickly and take an unsightly dip into the past, weaving around unsigned love letters, misguided affections, long-forgotten temptations, urges to fool around with people he wanted from afar but could never have for inexplicably stupid reasons, and then they abruptly pause on a more recent thing: breakfast preferences. Unhealthy ones at that. Morning waffles soaked in butter and whipped cream – a newfound love of his. Sho was happily sharing this current fixation with him.

And then his phone rings.

There’s a split second where the sound of his ringtone bounces around the bathroom and then finally reaches his eardrums. He’s absolutely not bothered with the action of picking it up. For one thing, he has already dipped both of his hands back into the warm water, so a sopping wet phone was certainly not on his morning agenda. It probably wasn’t anyone important ringing at this time anyway. It could just be Aiba, annoyed that he didn’t get the response he was looking for and thought a phone call would do the trick. Or his manager, reminding him of his agenda for the important week coming up, in the off-chance he decides to pull a spontaneous all-nighter and sleep away all of tomorrow.

He is half-tempted to sink his head beneath the water too, but he cracks his left eye open a fraction and catches a glimpse of the name calling through. Now he knows he cannot afford _not_ to answer. Unless he wants an unwarranted guilt trip. That’s a pain in the ass.

He withdraws a hand hastily and shakes it violently of water. “Leader.”

“Happy fifteen years.”

“You too,” Jun tells him as sincerely as he can at twelve in the morning.

“Matsujun. Are you okay?”

He still sounds heavy and considerably drunk. Jun is inexplicably confused for a full eight seconds before hastily reminding himself of The Sixth Sense, something that rare people, exclusively including Ohno Satoshi (perhaps he did have inbred leader qualities after all) are blessed with.

But unfortunately, Ohno uses it to his advantage at the weirdest of times.

“Why shouldn’t I be? In fact, I’m _great_ ,” Jun replies dryly, fingering the plain edge of the bathtub with his thumb idly. _Could be better_ , he wants to add on, but that would just incite concern where concern wasn’t really needed. Everybody could be a little better off in life but sometimes you can’t have it all, even if you are one of the most celebrated double-threats in Japan. He focuses for a moment on how finely pale his skin is and isn’t too surprised to find that he nearly blends in with the frosty white colour of the tiling. A sunbake at the beach across the street tomorrow wouldn’t kill him.

“Great?” Ohno repeats unsurely, prodding for an elaboration that Jun is in no mind to give over.

“I’m awake, at least. Why are you _ringing_ me? You’re just down the hall, aren’t you? Couldn’t you have just come over?”

“You’re having a bath.”

Not a question: somehow, Ohno already knows. There is a small relief, though, that at least _some_ knew him. _Maybe I’m that transparent,_ Jun thinks. Maybe he was an open book to a lot of people he didn’t really wish to be. That was the inevitable downside of being around the same four people even through the awkward teenage years – they were there for the development of habits, the maturing and regressing, the heartbreaks and the loves, the frustration and the joy, the triumphs and downfalls. Ohno had been there for every single one. If Ohno’s floaty history was anything to go by, perhaps he hadn’t even been paying attention to all of them. But he still somehow knew, even down to the smallest detail of if he was having a bath or not.

But then Ohno mumbles something about dripping water in the background and Jun narrows his eyes at the leaky tap next to his foot.

“I am. Currently bathing, that is.” His lips twitch. He watches and feels his toes wriggle and then return under the surface with a watery _plop_. Their view becomes warped and insanely huge, and then he remembers why he hates taking baths all of a sudden. That prematurely, wrinkled, prune-like skin you get that makes you feel like an old man for half an hour. He reminds himself that he’s in the middle of a conversation and puts aesthetics aside. “And your point is…?”

Even though, in most circumstances, Ohno was the last person he wanted to spend his time with, they got along surprisingly well. Their relationship could be described as bumpy at best. Incidentally, just before he took his leave from the party and waved off Sho’s drunken advances to go down to the beach and skinny-dip, he had given Ohno a spare key card to his room. Purely for reassurance’s sake, or maybe something more. On nights like this, they often shared episodic conversations about nothing special until the morning sun broke somewhere in the sky, depending on where they were currently staying at and how hard-to-deal-with the time zones were.

So, on the off-chance that Ohno was finding it hard to sleep (rare, but again, depending on the country they were in, they could talk for hours about the past and how comfortable it was, hilarious anecdotes, slip-ups mostly involving Aiba, and the terrifying future over copious amounts of minibar whiskey and vodka bottles. Not that Jun drank _that_ much – Ohno always did most of the drinking, just listening mostly to Jun’s long rambles with a fond smile).

“—and, and…uh…would’ve been rude just barging in on you like that,” Ohno says after taking his sweet time to respond. “Sorry.”

Jun snorts openly. No, it really wouldn’t have been. In the past they had been caught up in that context way too many times to be considered normal or coincidental. Nothing was coincidental when it came to Ohno Satoshi. And when Jun thinks that one through, it really isn’t normal at all. But those moments had been lifetimes ago, when he was young and fresh-faced and impressionable and just bridging his early twenties. Back then, nothing mattered, responsibility was a new concept, and being serious about certain affairs wasn’t exactly at the top of his priorities. He had once shared Aiba’s mantra – to have fun at any cost.

Basically, being in the middle of a bath or even taking a piss had never stopped Ohno before. Even to just bid a simple “goodnight” that could have easily been conveyed through the phone.

 _“I don’t trust hotel phones,”_ had been totally lousy excuse. _“They probably bug the lines…”_

So tenuous was Ohno’s trust in nearly everything unless it had his unusual stamp of approval.

 _“Then use your own phone,”_ Jun, unamused and holding up his own, had told him with a roll of his eyes. They had exchanged numbers a few days previously for the first time – it was the year they had only just _really_ bonded on an emotional level and started to realize that trust and understanding were going to be major points to getting anywhere in their industry. He wasn’t shocked to receive no answer back.

Back in his time, there is a weird but comfortable stretch of silence that should be uncomfortable by all counts, and Ohno breaks it again.

“I just had—a feeling. Not a bad feeling. I just wanted to check up on you. It’s good to know you’re okay. I’ll see you tomorrow morning?” Which was Ohno-speak for _I seen you having a hard time today and I hope you weren’t going to do something._

Jun distantly remembers a time years ago on whatever variety program they were doing at that time when Ohno had stood behind him and light-heartedly joked to him that he would be Jun’s guardian angel. It was a purely platonic joke, because Jun was having an off day. Now, annoyingly and kind of reassuringly, that had become a reality.

His words hit home hard. Jun still doesn’t know, after all these years, why Ohno can’t just be more straightforward with him. Or at least speak in a way that he can understand without having to read between the lines or puzzle out the real meaning of his words. Ohno seems to have no problem at all being blunt and, at times, crude on their regular shows. But put him in a situation with Jun – be it over the phone or in person – and he can’t seem to say anything straight. It’s strange, because Jun is nothing _but_ straightforward with Ohno and they both prefer it that way.

Still, he appreciates that Ohno cares, that Ohno is worried. Clearly, it’s not an easy task for him, openly showing his concern like that. They are all men after all. Jun knows. He has also been watching Ohno over the years, watched him turn from a nervous, self-conscious nineteen-year old to the reserved but somewhat sure of himself thirty-three year old man he was today.

“Do you…want to come over here?” he asks apprehensively, managing not to get too caught up in the glow of reminiscence. Ohno’s young, twenty-year old face turns around in his mind for some time, something he had once marvelled at from a distance and wondered about. Once.

“Not tonight,” Ohno mumbles after a heartbeat. There’s a rough rumble of static – he’s probably jumping onto his bed, intending to sleep but Jun knows he won’t be able to now that Jun is all over his mind.

“Hey, I thought you were going down to the beach with Sho-kun and Aiba-chan,” he mutters upon remembering an enthusiastic conversation from the post-concert party.

“Eh…I didn’t really feel like getting wet tonight.”

Jun smiles at the typically illogical statement. The whole point of skinny-dipping was being naked in the water, clothes stripped and long forgotten and dry on the sand.

“Good night, Matsujun.”

“Night, Leader. Or good morning,” he amends himself just as the line goes dead.

Jun leans to the side to place his phone back on the stand, privately (and stupidly) hoping it would ring again (and knowing it wouldn’t). Ohno was notorious for his stubborn, unchangeable mindset. Once he made a decision, it was pretty much set. Unless he was insultingly drunk. Then anything was on the table.

When he moves back, he sees himself in the rise and fall of the water, and watches the surface break with his movement. The water laps against the sides of the tub and melts back to dead stillness again with no effort at all, like nothing had happened. Jun thinks he’s never paid such close attention to water before. It strikes him that water is starting to seem like a very fitting metaphor for his life.

His forehead creases. It isn’t the night, or the day, he decides. Neither of them is getting to him. It’s more time itself; invisible, always there, ticking away and taking away everything one by one while laughing in his face. What damage he could do if he were able to punch time in its proverbial face. He holds his breath and sinks his head underneath the water but stays under longer than necessary. He hasn’t held his breath this long since he was a kid, competing in childish competitions with his friends to see who could hold out the longest.

It’s nice to feel the burn in his lungs for a change, anyway.

・

The front door clicks open and shut.

Jun startles, cracks an eye open and feels his brow furrow. He’s not entirely sure how long he’d been out and floating in the bath half-asleep, but he was awake now. Awake enough to know that his fingers and toes now looked like grotesquely undersized brains and that he feels like shit and that someone just came in through his door and he’d like to know who the hell it is.

The answer comes when the bathroom door opens and an extremely brown figure peeks its head in. Jun exhales loudly at Ohno as his stomach drops back into place, wishing he had something huge and sharp-edged to throw at him.

“‘Not tonight’, huh?” he remarks sardonically, reaching over for a small towel on the stand. He knows Ohno just wanted to scare him, but Jun wasn’t about to give him the pleasure of a rant. He soaks the towel in warm water streaming from the tap and slings it carelessly over his eyes.

“Couldn’t sleep,” comes Ohno’s muffled reply with a short scuffle. Jun bites back a habitual smile and has to remind himself that that eighty percent of the time, Ohno is totally irritating.

“That doesn’t mean you can come in here and stop me from sleeping as well, idiot.”

There’s a rustling noise, and then, “But you’re in the bath.”

“I could have been asleep.” He only barely succeeds at omitting the sulkiness from his voice. Only Jun knows the shameful truth: he actually _had_ been asleep, and _yes_ in the damn bath, and that’s against everything he stands for physically – having raisin-like body parts all over the place and sallow skin. But he’s past the point of caring for the time being. He would still like to keep some of his dignity intact, though. That was an important aspect when it came to spending time in Ohno’s company. Although unassuming and conveniently forgetful, he could remember certain things with scary detail and bring them up years later without warning and appropriate timing.

“Matsujun falling asleep in the bathtub,” Ohno mumbles wonderingly, and then duly gives an uncharacteristic scoff that sounds so weird on his voice. “That’s funny.”

“Whatever.”

“And cute.”

The _rustle, rustle_ continues for a few more seconds and Jun, becoming annoyed, slides away his wet towel just in time to see Ohno shamelessly standing stark naked on his bathroom tiles. Then he leaps.

“What the _hell_ —”

Ohno easily slips into the other side of the tub, rippling the water and planting his small form right between Jun’s legs. He pushes his arms and legs up against Jun’s with several loud, swooping _plops_. Jun shifts back uncomfortably, his pale limbs becoming tangled up and constrasting with Ohno’s tanned ones by default thanks to the lack of space. With a scornful frown, he wordlessly flings the wet towel at the grinning intruder.

“ _Ow_ ,” Ohno complains half-heartedly, peeling it from his cheek with a smile. “My precious face! Thanks for that.”

Jun doesn’t really think Ohno deserves any dignified responses right now. He starts looking around the bathroom for a good way to get out of this situation. A quick way, more like. Besides the fact that his toes are probably minutes away from falling off, Ohno has begun to dig his toes into places Jun would rather not acknowledge. These are two probabilites he doesn’t want to encourage any further just because he isn’t able to move.

His eyes fall on the small cluster of clothes on the floor that clearly are not is.

“I could take your clothes,” he schemes aloud with an air of sudden ease, planning as he speaks, “and I’ll lock you in here until the morning and your manager can find you. Here. Naked. And with a hangover.”

Ohno smiles at him impertinently, contemplating the theory. “Wouldn’t he be wondering what I was doing in _your_ room, Matsujun? I mean, the only way I could have got in is if _you_ had let me in of your own will. Right?”

Jun scowls at the backfire. Bringing up the fact that he had voluntarily given Ohno a spare key card would not go over well with any of their managers and would probably raise unwarranted suspicion. _Nothing_ was going on, after all. It was just an unexplainably calming thing for Jun personally.

“Anyway, even if you did steal my clothes and run off, I’d overpower you first.” Ohno now shifts his leg so that his toes are burrowing into Jun’s hipbone, wiggling them softly up and down the skin. This is a rare show of confidence in Ohno, only present due to alcohol. The water ripples around them, and Jun holds Ohno’s abruptly defiant gaze. “And then I’d come and crash you in your sleep later on with my nakedness. When you’re least expecting it.”

“God, you’re impossible,” Jun mutters. To hell with a clever escape route, he’s had enough and wants out. He hoists himself up from the water and stumbles over to the door to wrap a towel around himself. In spite of everything, and despite holding an enormous amount of frustration towards Ohno, he can’t help not wanting to make the most of a convenient situation. He jerks his chin outside to his bedroom.

“Well? Are you coming or not?”

Ohno looks down at his little pile of clothes dumbly. His previous bluster seems to have left the room.

“I’m not going to take your clothes,” Jun snaps irascibly after a long exhale from his nose. For good measure (and because of Ohno’s distrustful expression), he links his arms behind his head and stands with his legs apart, shrugging. Along with the movement, his towel begins to slip from his hips slightly.

There’s a small, three-second long hesitation from Ohno before he hefts himself from the bath, forgoing the need for a towel and running to jump onto Jun’s bed face-first. Jun starts after him disbelievingly, ducking to collect Ohno’s clothes. He hurls them at the owner.

“If you want any chance of me being in the same room as you, get dressed first.” As an afterthought, he breathes to himself, “I can’t believe you’re going to be thirty-four in a couple of months.”

He does up his towel properly again and leans against the bathroom doorframe, folding his arms and smiling in spite of himself as Ohno yanks his top over his head and purposefully lets the water from his hair drip all over Jun’s meticulously-made bedspread.

“I thought you didn’t want to get wet tonight?” Jun asks amusedly, willing to let this one rebellion slide. There would be maids to change the sheets in the morning, anyway.

Ohno turns to him with a becoming smile, mouthing the word _oops_.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Matsujun?” he asks, almost teasingly this time.

Jun cocks his head to the side and joins him on the bed, sighing and dragging an arm around Ohno’s shoulders roughly. They both start to laugh uncontrollably and topple backwards, stopping themselves just before they can fall off the bed completely. Ohno kicks his legs in the air, laughing. Jun tries hard to ignore the fact that _he_ had forgotten to get dressed – another unnegotiable rule when spending time with Ohno. At least, he’d thought so.

“Better than I was before.”

It’s just another day, and sure time is ticking away, but at least this is a good start to today.

 

**Author's Note:**

> edit: if anyone is wondering, [here](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrt22c_haruma-miura-vs-arashi_shortfilms) is the subbed ver. of the VS episode where ohno said he would be jun's "guardian angel". I watched a different version of the episode where the subs were a bit more loose I guess (I can't find that one). :)


End file.
